Trump's Tariffs Are Creating Jobs In One Particular Field

Key Takeaways

• Tariffs have increased demand for international trade and compliance specialists, creating new job opportunities.
• Job postings with “tariff” or “international trade” keywords rose 25% on Indeed.com over the past year.
• Particularly, legal and compliance firms are hiring to manage tariff-related lawsuits and regulatory complexities.

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A Japanese machinery manufacturer in North Carolina is hiring a specialist to help the company comply with import tax regulations.

Another company in Elkhart, Indiana, needs a director of logistics and trade compliance for “managing trade and tariff strategy” among other duties.

And a trade law firm in Miami brought on a lawyer just to handle the extra work created by the import taxes President Donald Trump imposed last year.

Trump’s tariffs haven’t yet revived manufacturing jobs as intended, but they have boosted employment for tariff and international trade experts who help companies comply with them.

Listings on job site Indeed.com that include the keywords “tariff” or “international trade” have risen significantly over the last year. As of February, 532 jobs out of every 1 million job postings contained those phrases, up 25% from 424 at the same time last year, a spokesperson for the site said in an email. (Indeed does not release exact numbers of posts but says it has more than 16 million job posts on its site.)

The uptick in jobs directly related to tariffs is an unintended employment effect from a policy that many economists say has dragged down job creation.

Since “Liberation Day” last April, when Trump announced sweeping import taxes on most U.S. trading partners, the economy has lost 19,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s lost 89,000 manufacturing jobs, which the tariffs were meant to revive by tipping the scales in favor of building factories in the U.S.

“Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country,” Trump said in April.

Supporters of the tariffs say manufacturing investments will likely take longer to materialize and are yet to come.

What This Means For The Economy

The number of tariff-related job listings is insignificant for the overall economy, but it is beneficial for thousands of people in the highly specialized field.

Tariffs have stymied job creation in several ways. First, experts say, they’ve stoked uncertainty about trade policy, discouraging businesses from hiring and expanding. Secondly, many firms have absorbed tariff costs rather than passing them on to customers, reducing the funds available to pay new employees.

“To cut costs elsewhere, their hirings ground to a halt,” Michael Gregory, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a commentary Tuesday.

Related Education

What Is a Tariff and Why Are They Important?

Compliance Careers: How to Become a Compliance Officer

The uncertainty and confusion surrounding the tariffs, however, have created work in their own right. For example, last month, when the Supreme Court ruled that many of Trump’s tariffs were illegal, 2,000 companies reportedly filed lawsuits in federal court seeking refunds. The avalanche of lawsuits has benefited law firms specializing in international trade, such as Jennifer Diaz’s practice in Miami.

“The tariff uncertainty has created more questions and concerns for our international clientele in the import/export space,” she said in an email to Investopedia. “We just hired another attorney to assist with the current trade environment and don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.”

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